Waterfowl season will be here before you know it, so hop out of that lawn chair and get busy! Here are a few projects to keep you occupied this summer that will also help you to avoid the imminent opening-day scramble.

The issue with new decoys is not whether there's a plan to get them, but which ones to get and how many. Every year a new batch of decoys hits the market, each style with its own appeal. Here's a collection of several of the most recent additions to the waterfowl decoy world.

Whenever an artist is charged with creating artwork to illustrate a written story, the first step in the process is to come up with an image that encapsulates the author's narrative. In this case, Doug Larsen's "Last Call" column, "Men in White," is about field hunting snow geese, so the image is fairly straightforward; a hunter walking back to the blind, through the decoys, carrying a couple of geese.

I usually reference my own photographs, but in some cases I don't have just the right shot with which to work. When this happens I rely on the generosity of friends who are professional photographers. In this case, it's my buddy Tosh Brown. Tosh had a great photograph of a hunter in the perfect attitude, albeit with one Canada goose instead of two snows. I decided it would be a simple matter to change the species of the goose, draw a second one, add the field decoys, and since there's no mention of a dog in the story, do away with the black Lab. Done deal.

"Most of the films in the DU Films series are about people," said DU Chief Communications Officer Tom Fulgham. "But this one is about a shotgun—probably waterfowling's most famous shotgun—and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hunt with that shotgun on the lake that helped make it famous." As a tribute to outdoor writer Nash Buckingham and his legendary shotgun Bo Whoop, Ducks Unlimited brought the gun back to Beaver Dam for one more hunt. Watch the film, and find out more about Nash Buckingham and Bo Whoop, at www.ducks.org/DUFilms.

All-New DU T-shirt

Get the "Banding Together" DU tee FREE with your donation

We must band together to protect our legacy and inspire future generations to continue our mission! Show your support for wetlands conservation and our waterfowling heritage with this exclusive new DU T-shirt, featuring an eye-catching graphic of a mallard and wood duck on the back and the Ducks Unlimited logo on the front left chest. Made of 100% pre-shrunk cotton with a soft, natural feel. Produced exclusively for DU, not sold in stores.

Mission: Ducks Unlimited conserves, restores and manages wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl. These habitats also benefit other wildlife and people. Our vision is wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever.

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